Unravel
by PhoenixxFyre
Summary: When Rukia is injured after a hollow attacks her, Renji saves her. After a dream of the past leaves Rukia wondering about her friend, she asks him about his feelings. RenRuki.


**A/N: A couple years ago, a friend and I wrote a RenRuki lemon with a plotline similar to this fic. We never posted it, but since I liked the plot so much, I wrote this fanfiction with the old one in mind. Please don't give me all the credit for this idea. It only half belongs to me. Thank my friend for the rest of it, including the unpublished lemon part. Also, for those of you who don't know,** _ **tenetur a morte**_ **means bound by death in Latin.**

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and Tite Kubo alone.

Rukia walked down the dark streets of Karakura town, searching for her new target. She had been tracking this hollow for quite some time now, yet for some reason, she could no longer detect it.

She looked behind her. No matter how hard he tried to hide himself, he failed miserably. Didn't he know she could feel his spiritual pressure? She sighed, annoyed, and walked back in the direction she came.

Renji's eyes widened when he realized Rukia was heading in his direction. No point in trying to hide now. He stepped out in her view.

"Damn it, Renji! How could you?!"

"I'm sorry," he managed to say weakly. "I just-"

"Just nothing! You're here to protect me, aren't you?! Well you know what Renji? I don't need a hero! Okay?!"

Renji stared at the asphalt, feeling hurt. He had a bad feeling about this mission, and he felt like he needed to back Rukia up in case of anything. The missing presence of the hollow only made it worse.

Then they felt it. The hollow was... Right on top of them.

"Rukia!" Renji shouted, but it was too late. The hollow smashed her into a wall across the street.

"No," he said to himself quietly while staring in horror at the demolished wall. He could feel her spiritual pressure at least. She was still alive, but barely. He grit his teeth, clenching his sword in his hands. He charged toward the hollow with a shout, and killed it with only a couple blows.

He ran towards the wall. There Rukia lay, legs trapped under rubble, head bleeding, and...Oh God. Her sword was embedded in her side. Her breathing was labored and her eyes were shut tight in pain.

"Rukia!" Renji yelled, fear enveloping him. He couldn't lose her. Not again. This time, he had to save her.

He ran down the streets, searching for a place-any place, really-to heal her. Finally, after what felt like too long, he found a house with its door cracked open. He shifted Rukia in his arms so he could open the door further. He quickly laid her down on the floor so he could close the door back up. He didn't know if this home was abandoned, most likely it was not, but he didn't care. He spotted what looked like a blow-up mattress, so he took it from its resting place and placed Rukia's body on it.

"Please hold on, Rukia," he said, his voice shaking with barely concealed panic as he looked around the garage. Metal shelves lined the walls, filled with medical supplies. Renji, despite the situation, laughed. What were the odds that the only place he could help her had medical supplies he could use? He took what he needed from the shelves and placed it next to the mattress. He kneeled on the floor next to Rukia and lifted up her kimono, exposing her wound, and began his work.

 _It never snowed in Hanging Dog during the winter, but instead got very cold. Rukia shivered in her kimono. Renji had fallen asleep after trying to find food for them all day. He showed up back at their makeshift camp with a small loaf of bread and a jug of water, but he barely got the chance to hand them to her before he passed out._

 _She looked over at his sleeping form. He looked so peaceful. She smiled. He acted so tough all the time, and getting to see him like this was extremely rare._

 _She looked up at the cloudless winter sky. It was probably the most beautiful thing here in this filthy town. She used to hate it here. Still did, but it wasn't so bad now that she had Renji. She used to have other friends, but they all passed away. At least she still had Renji._

 _She shivered again and moved closer to the fire. She had a small blanket, but she put it over Renji when he passed out, even though he had his own. He needed it more than she did right now anyway._

 _She looked back over at him to see that he was awake and staring at her._

 _"Renji, I'm so glad to see you're awake. Are you-?"_

 _"You're cold, aren't you?"_

 _She tried to raise an eyebrow at him but failed. "No," she said instead. An icy breeze passed by and made her shiver again._

 _"See, you are cold. Come here."_

 _She sat next to him and he made an exasperated grunt before taking the blankets off and wrapped them around her as he got up to make dinner. She looked at him questioningly. "I don't need both," she told him. She took off his blanket and attempted to wrap it back around him. He took the blanket off and wrapped it back around her until she finally gave up and kept it around her._

 _"Don't worry about me," he said. "But thanks." Her stomach growled and Renji looked at her._

 _"Guess you didn't eat while I was out either, huh?" She shook her head. He handed her some bread. "Here. Eat up." She looked at his portions. Looks like he gave her more than half of it. Again. She leaned over, replaced his portions with hers, and took his._

 _"Hey! Rukia, what are you doing?"_

 _"You need to build your energy and strength back up. Take my portions."_

 _"What? No. You need it more. Please, just take it."_

 _They argued over the food until Renji begrudgingly took her portions. They ate in silence except for the occasional comment, and then they finally went to bed. Renji wrapped Rukia up in the blankets and laid down next to the fire. Rukia sat back up and looked at him._

 _"You can't stay warm like that. Let me give you back your blanket. Please."_

 _He sighed. She wasn't going to stop worrying about him now. He got up from his spot next to the fire and crawled under the blankets with her, holding her tightly against his chest._

 _"Now we'll both be warm," he said to her. She looked up at him. His cheeks were flushed._

 _"Renji? Are you blushing?" she asked him when he looked at her. He snorted. "No. The blanket's just making me hot, that's all."_

 _"Right," she said teasingly, giggling softly into his chest._

 _"Why are you laughing?!" His reaction only made her giggle more._

 _"Renji?" she asked him, serious this time._

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"Thanks. For taking care of me, for worrying about me, protecting me, for being my friend, for just being here. For everything you've done."_

 _"Don't thank me," was all he said, but she felt his arms tighten around her, pulling her closer._

She opened her eyes.

Rukia didn't recognize her surroundings, so she did a once over of the area. Small table, shelves, mini fridge, bed, Renji, stairs-

Wait... Renji? She looked back and saw him slumped on the floor next to the bed she was in, his head and arms resting on the bottom half of the bed. He was asleep, so Rukia nudged his hand with her foot.

"Renji?" she whispered. His head shot up at the sound of her voice and spun around to meet her gaze.

"Rukia! You're awake! How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything?" he said in a rush. She could tell he was worried about her.

"I'm a little sore, but I'm okay. I don't need anything right now." She looked down at the bandages covering her stomach. "What happened, Renji? Why am I bandaged up?"

He glanced at her bandaged abdomen before answering her. "How much do you remember?" he asked her quietly.

"I remember arguing with you, and then I felt the hollow's spiritual pressure. That's the last thing I remember."

Renji sighed. "The hollow seemed to appear out of nowhere. We didn't feel its spiritual pressure until it was right on top of us. I told you to look out, but by then it was too late. It knocked you into a wall across the street and you were knocked unconscious. I killed the hollow and when I got to you, your head was bleeding, your legs were broken, and your sword was embedded in your stomach. I brought you here and did what I could to stop the bleeding."

Rukia touched her forehead and found a gauze pad covering part of it. Then she gently touched the bandages wrapped around her stomach. "You did this?" she asked him incredulously.

"Yeah. I picked up a few things from Hanataro. I couldn't do anything about your legs though, but when I was sure you were gonna be alright, I found Orihime and asked her to heal your broken bones."

She smiled. He had still tried to help her as much as he could. She was grateful to both him and Orihime for healing her. She'll have to remember to thank her before they left to go back to the Soul Society.

Then she remembered what she said to him before she was knocked unconscious.

"I'm sorry."

Renji looked at her, a confused look quickly spreading across his face. "For what?"

"For yelling at you. It was wrong of me to say those things to you. You were just looking out for me, but then I...God. I'm so sorry, Renji. If you weren't there, I would have died. Please, for-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before Renji's arms circled around her and he buried his face in her shoulder.

"Don't apologize for that," he said into her hair. "I should have just told you instead of following you around like I did. I'm sorry, Rukia. If I just told you, maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"It's not your fault. Neither of us knew it was there until it was too late. I might have gotten hurt anyway. Please don't blame yourself for any of this."

"But I was supposed to protect you," she heard him say.

She thought of the dream she had of them when they were kids. She never would have admitted it to him, but she had a huge crush on him. She still did, but she was able to hide her feelings well so he'd never find out.

She wondered if he felt the same way she did. She doubted it, but...

"Renji?" He looked up at her.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you always try to protect me? Even when we were kids, you always looked out for me and tried to protect me, even when I didn't need protecting. And when you rescued me, you nearly got yourself killed protecting me. Why?"

Renji held her tighter, but not tight enough to hurt her. "Because I...never mind. It's not important."

He tried to move away, but she grabbed him by his ponytail and tugged him back. "It's important to me, Renji," she said to him while he winced in pain. He sat down on the edge of her bed and stared at his lap for a long time before answering her.

"The day at the river," he said. "When I tried to fish and you found the flowers floating in the river. It was that day when I realized something. I promised myself then that I would protect you from anything. It didn't matter what it was. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Even if I had to suffer, it would have been worth it as long as I knew you were going to be okay."

Her eyes watered. "But why? Why would you go through all that pain and suffering just for me?! I'm not worth it!"

"Yes, you are," he said. "You're the one thing in my life I truly care about. To me, you're worth more than anything in this world. I would gladly suffer; even give my life for you as long as you got to live. Because... I love you, Rukia. I always have."

Rukia was sure her heart had stopped. He loved her? That was the last thing she had expected, and it made her feel so...

Complete. Happy. Loved. It made her feel every positive emotion one could ever feel in their entire lifetime all at once. She was so happy that tears of joy ran down her face. She felt Renji gently brush them away.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I'm not upset, Renji. Quite the opposite actually." she told him before bringing her face close to his. He blushed. "Wait, Rukia-"

"I know. But this is what I want. I never would have admitted it, but I've liked you since we were kids. I want this, Renji. I've been wanting this for a long time." She moved her face closer, so that now their lips were less than an inch apart. He distanced himself from her only enough to look deep into her eyes. He did that for a while before he finally crashed his lips onto hers.

Rukia closed her eyes and kissed him back. He kissed her passionately and deeply, and she felt molten fire painfully course through her body. With every brush of his lips against hers, it felt like lightning had struck her.

It was the best feeling she ever felt.

She undid his ponytail, letting his hair fall freely around them. She ran her fingers through his long red hair, enjoying the silky smooth texture in between her fingers. His hands caressed her body, his light, gentle, touch sending shivers through her. She moaned against his lips, which encouraged him to kiss her more. He moved his way down her neck, lightly kissing his way down, making her breathing heavy. She felt him grin against her neck before he began to suck on it.

Rukia loved every second of it, and felt deprived when Renji stopped kissing and touching her.

"Why-?" She was cut off by another kiss, this one more sweet and gentle. He moved her as carefully as he could so he could lie down next to her. He shifted to his side, wrapped an arm around her, and moved closer to her.

"Renji," she said breathlessly. He buried his face between her shoulder and neck and lightly kissed her; sending shocks through her body and making her catch her breath.

"I didn't want you to be lonely," he said simply.

She thought again of the dream. It had been almost exactly like this, only now they were something more than just friends. She craned her head to look at Renji and he looked up at her. Just as she suspected, he was slightly blushing. She giggled a little before kissing him.

She told him about her dream and he smiled, remembering that day. "We slept like that every night after that," he said to her and she nodded.

"You were blushing then too. You told me it was because you were too hot under the blanket." She laughed. "I take it that wasn't it," she said while laughing.

He blushed harder. "Uh...no." Rukia kissed his lips again. "Thought so."

They cuddled for several minutes before Rukia whispered, "Renji?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you too."

He kissed her one last time before burying his face in her hair, smiling as he did so. Then they drifted off to sleep.

"What the hell are you guys doing?! Get up!" said an angry voice. Rukia and Renji opened their eyes to see Ichigo standing over them with a very pissed off look upon his face.

"What's up, Ichigo?" Renji said sleepily.

"Don't 'what's up' me! I found out from Orihime that you guys crashed here! What the hell are you guys doing in my garage?!"

They looked around. The medical supplies and equipment made much more sense now.

"Um... We were just..." Rukia began, not sure how to finish the sentence. "Just going," she finished lamely. How could she possibly begin to explain to him that they made out and fell asleep in his garage?

"Yeah, we were going to head out in a minute," Renji said. Ichigo scowled, clearly not believing them, but he decided not to push them.

They left his garage and walked down the street, heading in the direction of Urahara's shop.

"How are we going to explain this to Byakuya?" Renji asked her. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess we'll figure out something. But I don't want to think about that right now," she said. "Right now, I just want to be with you." Renji smiled at her before grabbing her hand and led her in the opposite direction of Urahara's shop. Rukia looked up at the clear blue sky high above. She and Renji may have had rough spots in their relationship before, but it all worked out in the end, and she couldn't be happier.

She met Renji's eyes and smiled. She was home.


End file.
